The Malibu City Council is expected to unanimously adopt an ordinance this week that will make it the fourth municipality in the State, after San Francisco, Oakland and Fairfax, to ban plastic bags. Tami Abdollah writes in the LA times that the law will help local governments beat the costly problem of plastic urban litter pollution:

Environmental groups hailed Malibu's ordinance as a model that they hoped others would emulate, to keep the bags from clogging storm drains and drifting to sea, where they can kill marine life....It costs California taxpayers about $25 million a year to collect and dispose of plastic bags, according to Californians Against Waste.